(Jerusalem) The Israeli army announced that it was carrying out an operation on the al-Chifa hospital, in Gaza City, in a press release published Monday morning, while witnesses on site confirmed to AFP that they heard bombings.
The soldiers “are currently carrying out a targeted operation in the area of al-Chifa hospital,” details the press release. “The operation is based on information indicating the use of the hospital by senior Hamas terrorists.”
On the spot, witnesses confirmed to AFP “air operations” in the al-Rimal neighborhood where the hospital is located, the largest in the Gaza Strip, in which “shrapnel” reportedly fell. “.
Residents of this central neighborhood of Gaza City claimed that “more than 45 Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers” had entered al-Rimal. Some also report “fights” around the hospital.
The Israeli army speaks through loudspeakers to residents, asking them to stay at home while “drones shoot at people in the streets near the hospital”, according to witnesses on site interviewed by AFP.
The Hamas government press service claimed that al-Chifa hospital was “bombed”, specifying that “tens of thousands of displaced people” were in the building.
Israeli troops received “instructions on the importance of operating with caution, as well as measures to take to avoid harm to patients, civilians, medical personnel,” the army press release further specifies.
“Arabic-speaking people were brought to the site to facilitate exchanges with patients,” he adds, “patients and medical staff are not obliged to evacuate.”
The Israeli army entered this hospital on November 15, and the establishment is no longer operating at a minimum and with a reduced team.
After this large-scale operation, the Israeli army said it had found “munitions, weapons and military equipment” from the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the al-Chifa hospital, which Hamas denied.
The Israeli army also said it had discovered a 55 meter long tunnel used according to it “for terrorism” under the al-Chifa hospital in Gaza, and it invited journalists to visit it.
Since the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli army has carried out operations in several hospitals in the Palestinian territory.
She accuses Hamas of using health establishments as command centers.
Less than a third of hospitals in the Gaza Strip are operational, and only partially, according to the UN.